Painting the bee... what do/did you use?

[KDOG]

I was wondering what people used to pain their bee. Due to the lack of any significant surface area (except maybe the tail), would good canned spray paint work? What brand, grade etc. would be the best? Also, any pre painting tips would be appreciated.

[Udi]

We all know that John Landry has one of the best looking Bees is the world... Here is a quote from the old-old forum on how he did that:

Date: September 11, 2002 01:11 PM
Author: John A. Landry (gyropilot@earthlink.net)
Subject: GyroBee Finish



Steve Coker asked:

> Does anyone have a recommendation for finishing
> (paint, anodizing, etc) the aluminum structure on
> the Gyrobee. I would prefer to maintain the
> natural finish but I understand the need to
> prevent corrosion.


Steve,

I spray painted my Bee using rattle cans of enamel and the finish came out looking so good, at air shows I often get asked where I had it powder coated! There are several reasons I went with a non-epoxy spray painted finish:

It's very inexpensive
It quick and easy to apply and can be done at home
Scratches are easy to touch up
Completely stripping a part and refinishing it is easy


The downside is the lack of resistance to solvent spills (like gasoline). Those have to be wiped off immediately.

This is how I applied the finish to the aluminum parts:

1. Buffed all parts to a satin finish with 3M Scotchbrite Roloc disks on an air powered angle head die grinder.
2. Washed buffed parts by hand with soap and rinsed with water.
3. Applied a commercial aluminum etchant (dilute phosphoric acid) to remove any trace of oxidation or smut from the metal surface then rinsed with water. I used "Alumiprep #33" purchased from A/C-Spruce for this purpose.
4. Next I applied a surface conversion coating to lock out oxidation (dilute chromic acid) and rinsed with water. For this I used "Alodine #1001" also from A/C-Spruce. It's the stuff that leave the beautiful gold color coating on aluminum.
5. After the parts were thoroughly dry, the next step was to apply a single coating of quick-dry spray primer in either gray or red depending on the intended finish color.
6. After letting the primer dry at least overnight, I lastly applied 2-3 light coats of quick-dry gloss enamel. The parts were ready to assemble after curing for a couple of days.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but if you do the parts in manageable groups production line style, it goes pretty fast. I think I had my entire Bee painted in a week of working a few hours in the evenings and one weekend. The paint I used was the "Demkote" brand purchased from W.W. Grainger (www.grainger.com). This stuff dries incredibly fast (less than 10 minutes to touch) and leaves a beautiful smooth glossy finish right out of the can.

> Has anyone tried just
> "ACF-50"? Seems like you could spray this on
> every year or so and be good to go.


I use this stuff to protect certain bare parts, some bare dissimilar mating surfaces and inside steel tubes, etc. It's really not suitable for protecting a large raw aluminum surface for very long as it leaves a light oily film that would attract dust. I think would make a greasy mess of your gyro. If you want that natural aluminum look, you're going to have to polish or buff the aluminum and clear coat it with something to preserve the look.

Good luck,

John A. Landry
PRA Chap. 30
Gyrobee (N392JL)
Olympia, WA

I used John's process on my Air Command and it came out great.

Udi

[ToddP]

Udi,

I remembered John going through his process and hoped he would offer it up again. I am very glad you saved it, his paint job is fantastic.

[scottessex]

The biggest thing is to prep the aluminum like John did, and most anything will stick. You can get self etching primers from DuPont and PPG. But you should still clean and alodine the aluminum, and wear gloves and safety glasse when using phosphoric acid, and alodine.

[Ralph]

Don and I went through the paint thing the first time around. This time we had all the aluminum pieces anodized. A fine, highly durable, uniform finish. Satin clear - which results in a satin silver finish - cost us $170 at a local shop and zero labor.

Ralph

[KDOG]

Now if I order the frame parts from StarBee, do they come anodized or do I have to do it when I get them in? I take it that the anodizing is done after all the holes are drilled? I'm a big fan of the straight "brushed aluminum" look anyhow so that would just be so much the better...

[ToddP]

Ralph,

I thought there had been some discussion here about anodizing weakening the aluminum slightly or possibly making it more prone to cracking.

[Brian Jackson]

Kevin,
The aluminum finish (anodizing, etc.) is done by the builder after drilling and preliminary assembly. The parts from StarBee do not come anodized.

Ralph,
I posted a thread today Here about some anodizing concers I had. The biggest of which is the brittleness/hardness factor of the material's outer layer introduced by the chemical process. Have any studies been done with regards to fatigue and brittleness due to anodizing? I'd love to go that route but from many of the things I've read, including Rutan's site, recommend extreme caution when anodizing high-stress parts.

Thanks,
Brian Jackson

[Ralph]

Brian,

The practical impact is nil. Most open-frame ultralights prior to the advent of powder-coating were constructed of anodized tubing.

Ralph

[KDOG]

Whoa. Now let me ask this. Is it necessary to anodize? Or is it something extra some people do to go that "extra step", I would think that as long as you use a good primer and paint, you shouldn't have a problem. Also, in my mind, I would want to replace the three main tubes every so often, and that could get expensive, if your anodizing all the time. Don't get me wrong, I will do it if its necessary. Also, how would you prime and paint the inside of the tubing?

[Ralph]

You either paint or anodize. Anodizing is a permanent electrochemical treatment of the surface with various processes that govern the nature of the finish (including its hardness). With certain finishes you can follow up with a dye bath and get colors.

Painting either involves that standard primer + paint or you go with powder-coating.

Bare aluminum gets pretty cruddy via oxidation if you don't do something to protect the surface.

Ralph

[KDOG]

Gotcha. I was thinking of doing an American Flag paint scheme, but I don't know how "overdone" that scheme is....

[Madewooden]

For those more adventuresome, why not anodize the aluminum yourself?

Here's a site for a cold process that looks very interesting.

http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize99.html

Tim

[KDOG]

Uh, no. I know my limits!!!

[KDOG]

Also I want to know how to paint the inside of the tubing, if you do that.